Fluffy Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

These tender lemon poppy seed muffins are full of fresh lemon flavor with a fluffy texture and poppy seed crunch. They are so easy and delicious to make! There is citrus flavor throughout the fluffy muffin base, and they are topped with a lemon drizzle to give them a bit of an extra lemon kick.

About these muffins

• Super fluffy and tender. Thanks to the lemon juice and sour cream (or yogurt) in the wet ingredients, these muffins have an extra fluffy and tender crumb.
• Make them in advance if you want! The batter can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 12 hours before being baked.
• No mixer is needed. These lemon poppy seed muffins use melted butter so you don't need an electric mixer.
• Full of texture. Thanks to the poppy seeds in the batter and the lemony coarse sugar topping.

The muffin batter

The muffin batter is based on this strawberry lemon muffins, but with a few little tweaks. It's a very easy batter to make, with melted butter and sour cream to bring rich flavor and moisture to the muffin base.

There is lots of lemon zest in the base, first rubbed into the sugar. This helps to release the lemon oils in the zest and bring that lemony flavor into the muffin.

There's lemon juice in there too, but that's not just for flavor, the acidity in the lemon juice creates tender muffins by inhibiting the gluten formation in the batter.

Adding poppy seeds in these lemon muffins brings a fun element as the crunchy poppy seeds bring a little extra texture.

The muffins are initially baked at a higher temperature for 5 minutes before it's turned down for the rest of the bake time. This helps give an initial boost of a rising power to the batter and creates a domed muffin top.

The topping

When the muffins are hot out of the oven, they are topped with a simple mixture of granulated sugar and fresh lemon juice. The granulated sugar doesn't dissolve in this mixture, so it also adds an element of crunch to the fluffy muffin.

The lemon juice soaks up into the muffins and brings more moisture.

The ingredients

Find the ingredient amounts for this lemon poppy seed muffin recipe listed in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is a rundown of what you will need -

• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Poppy seeds
• Melted butter - This can be salted or unsalted butter. You can reduce the salt slightly in the rest of the recipe if using salted butter.
• Granulated white sugar - For in the muffin batter and also the topping.
• Large eggs
• Vanilla extract or paste
• Fresh lemons - Both fresh lemon zest and juice are used. If you want an extra lemony muffin you can also add ½ a teaspoon lemon extract.
• Sour cream or greek yogurt
• Whole milk

Equipment

For this recipe, you'll need a standard 12-cup muffin pan.

For larger bakery-style muffins, divide all the batter over 10 of the muffin holes, not 12.

Method

In a medium bowl combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds. Whisk together to combine and set aside.

In a large bowl combine the granulated sugar and the lemon zest. Use your fingers to rub the lemon zest into the sugar to release the lemon oils and bring the best flavor.

Add in the melted butter, eggs, sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla. Whisk it together until well combined.

Tip in your dry ingredients, and fold them together with a rubber spatula alternating with the milk. Don't over mix it or your muffins will be dense.

Cover the muffin batter bowl and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while you preheat the oven.

Make ahead

The batter can also be covered and refrigerated for up to 12 hours before being divided and baked. Note that scoop will be much thicker after a long rest.

Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners.

Divide the batter evenly over the muffin liners. If you want a large bakery muffin, fill only 10 of the muffin cups with batter so that each muffin is fuller.

Bake the muffins at 425°F/220°C for 5 minutes then turn the oven down to 350°F/180°C and continue baking for another 15 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are lightly golden brown and the muffin tops spring back when pressed in the center. For mini muffins, the baking time will need to be reduced.